THE POPULATION OF Dublin is expected to grow by as much as 400,000 by the start of the 2030s.
That’s still a long way off, but the city’s transport infrastructure is starting to feel the strain already.
The National Transport Authority has today published its plan to make sure all those extra people will be able to get around the city with ease, and is looking for the public’s views on it.
The Greater Dublin Area draft Transport Strategy covers 2016 right up until 2035, and details the transport framework that authorities could have in place.
The plan includes mention of Metro North’s long forgotten sibling, Metro South. This was mooted in the early-2000s, and fell off the radar after that.
It is envisaged that this would involve upgrading sections of the current Luas Green Line to accommodate larger Metro trains. This would allow a metro service to run from Swords through to Bride’s Glen, dipping underground from the city centre to Ranelagh.
The Luas wouldn’t be forgotten about. It’s proposed to extend the Cross City line, currently under construction, to Finglas, the Green Line to Bray, and Red Line out west to Lucan and east to Poolbeg.
Improvements to heavy rail service include two changes currently underway – the reopening of the Phoenix Park tunnel and a resignallingprogramme in the city centre.
There’s also the Dart Expansion Programme, which could see the service extended to Drogheda, Hazelhatch, and Maynooth.
The strategy proposes the development of a core bus network, consisting of 16 radial corridors, three orbital corridors, and six regional corridors.
The intention of this is to ensure “an efficient, reliable and effective” service that will enable “the bus to provide a faster alternative to car traffic along these routes, making bus transport a more attractive alternative for road users”.
Road users are set to benefit from a range of changes, including reconfiguration of some junctions with the M50, and an extra lane between junctions 14 and 17. Others earmarked for improvement are the M1, M11/N11, N2/M2, M7/M9 and N3.
There will also be a number of strategic park-and-ride facilities.
Cyclists will be looked after by way of the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network, expanding the urban cycle network to almost 1,500km.
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